Home renovation projects: Staying motivated

Don’t Quit, just Do It!

For about a year and a half home renovations and DIY was an all consuming priority in our life. We’ve completed all the major work, but there are still a few minor outstanding tasks that I’m sure will e-ven-tually get completed. During this process there were many highs and lows, endless decisions, sleepless nights, procrastinating, swearing, blood, sweat and tears. Sometimes it felt like it was never going to end and you couldn’t quite see the light at the end of the tunnel. We learnt an incredible amount and so today’s post is about sharing the tips that kept us going.

13 Tips for staying motivated during home renovations

Just start. Stop procrastinating.

Keep a list of outstanding tasks and stick it on the fridge door. This way it will always be visible before you open the fridge.

As you progress through the tasks, start crossing them out. The fewer the tasks, the more motivating it becomes.

If you have many rooms to tackle, rather finish working on each room one at a time. Completed rooms motivate you as you can see the progress sooner than if you were to do one task in all the rooms together.

Prioritize the tasks in order of effort. Tackle smaller tasks first which will reduce the list of outstanding tasks quickly.

Aim to get at least one task a day done. This way you will eventually get through the list of outstanding tasks.

Learn to make decisions quickly. If you’re unsure of a decision you need to make then speak to people or research it. Information makes deciding easier.

Make sure you have the correct tools for the job. Without the right tools it can take longer and the quality of the work may not be the same if you start getting tired, frustrated or impatient.

Make use of Google and YouTube for tips on how to do tasks you’re unsure of.

Weigh up the time vs the effort and the cost of the task. Is it worth getting a qualified tradesmen to do the job?

Take before and after photos. One tends to forget the before state and seeing the after state reminds you how much progress has been made.

Set a deadline goal. Inviting family and friends over for a planned visit will encourage you to get tasks finished.

Take a break. Being tired can also decrease motivation so taking some time out may make you feel fresher and give you a renewed sense of purpose.

Taking on a DIY home renovation project is a challenge with a massive learning curve. If we knew some of these tips we might have tackled things a bit differently. But like with all of life’s lessons you won’t know until you’ve been through it. Staying motivated is key to making good progress and getting your house into a state that you want it to be. Hopefully these tips will help motivate you and also provide some direction on how to best approach a home renovation project to turn your house into a home.

I’d love to hear what you did to stay motivated during home renovation projects? Please feel free to share your comments with me.

Hi Emma, thanks for reading! I definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without my hubby. It was such a long and exhausting process for us hence why I needed to find ways for us to stay motivated so that we could get to the end of the tunnel! 🙂

I’ve never done any big DIY projects and my husband is not a handy man. I do love to decorate and I have done up some old furniture, but that’s my limit. Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove Laura x

We had a huge renovation project with our current house. It took about a year to get the bulk of it done, and another 2 years to get all the rest of the little jobs done! We finally fit the last piece of skirting board last month! I completely agree with trying to finish a room at a time – even if they need touching up later on due to dust or other issues, it’s so motivating to have one room where you can see the finished product and to escape to when it all gets a bit much. Thanks so much for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove